... or how
to finish a book
I’ve made a pledge. I’ve been
chipping away at a book project since 2004 and this feels like the year I should tie off the big bow. I’m determined to work on it for at least 60
minutes a day till December 31 or until it is finished.
Nine days into the year I am up 415
minutes, a mere 125 minutes off of my new pace. Today I even made up 15 minutes
of lost ground. I’m optimistic. My mind feels ready. Made up. Determined.
Last year I fell a wretched 21,105
minutes short of my goal (I discussed my time tracking in my post
Tick-Tock-Tick Talk) but I understand why. I didn’t have a deadline, see. Writers
without deadlines are like ships without rudders, canoes without paddles,
planes without landing gear ... That’s how it works at my desk, and I doubtlessly
resemble many writers in this respect.
People love to challenge, or is
that torment, themselves with deadlines: Build a plane with retractable landing
gear in 30 days; figure out in five days how they moved the stone statues on
Easter Island; walk 1000 miles in 1000 hours or commit to
writing a novel in five months. I spotted this one on Helga Bolleter’s blog, <http://5writers5novels5months.com/author/helgabolleter/>).
I needed a deadline of my own, so I made a rule: spend the first 60 minutes of each day on my book and only then move on to the paying work. Last year I had it backwards: spend the last 60 minutes of each day on the book after all my other work was done. Guess what? The other work refused to finish. Those remaining 60 minutes seldom appeared. After a day of wrestling with my full-time writing beasties, I rarely had the jam to trudge down to the dungeon to crank out yet more words.
I'm not ready yet to discuss my book project in detail, but I will say it has something to do with 20 years of accumulated wisdom making a living as a mercenary pen. There is a surprising amount of ground to cover, but I am getting there.
I needed a deadline of my own, so I made a rule: spend the first 60 minutes of each day on my book and only then move on to the paying work. Last year I had it backwards: spend the last 60 minutes of each day on the book after all my other work was done. Guess what? The other work refused to finish. Those remaining 60 minutes seldom appeared. After a day of wrestling with my full-time writing beasties, I rarely had the jam to trudge down to the dungeon to crank out yet more words.
I'm not ready yet to discuss my book project in detail, but I will say it has something to do with 20 years of accumulated wisdom making a living as a mercenary pen. There is a surprising amount of ground to cover, but I am getting there.
I have already prepared some 130,000 words of notes, interviews and other
insert-ready material since I launched the project. I have a draft introduction, table
of contents and headings for between 51 and 120 chapters, depending on which
version of that particular sub-effort I look at. I’ve ruminated like a cow over which
title might deliver the best bang. I’ve studied the question-without-an-answer of
whether I should submit my book to a publisher or e-publish it myself.
“All” that remains is to stop
accepting new material and pull together a few thousand bits and pieces. All that
remains, a pretty sure antidote to failure, is to have a deadline.
Be still, my heartless mercenary
pen, for an hour a day. And yes, I logged 60 book minutes, twice, before drafting,
then redrafting this post. I think I can lick this book thing.
Copyright
© Carroll McCormick 2013
-30-
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